【Ferro-alloys.com】: Vulcan Elements, a North Carolina-based rare earth magnet producer, said on Tuesday it will build a $1-billion manufacturing facility in its home state to supply US electronics and military customers.

The facility, which is being funded in part by the Pentagon, is slated for Benson, 48 km southeast of Raleigh.

It would boost US access to magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, fighter jets and thousands of other products. Those magnets are at the center of global trade conflict as China uses them as leverage in negotiations with the Trump administration.

The company chose North Carolina over other states due to its engineering-focused workforce and economic incentives, said CEO John Maslin. The plant site is located inside North Carolina's so-called "Research Triangle," near prominent universities, laboratories and military complexes.

"The most important thing for us was workforce. It was finding the PhDs, the engineers and the technicians from complementary industries," Maslin said.

While the US had been the world's largest magnet manufacturer, it let that skill lapse in the 20th century. Vulcan's magnet technology was developed by a co-founder and the company does not foresee any patent issues, Maslin said.

North Carolina estimates the facility will boost the state's economy by $2.6-billion. If that happens, Vulcan will be eligible for $17.6-million in state grants.

Vulcan in August signed a rare earth oxides supply deal with ReElement Technologies. The oxide would need to be turned into a metal before it is turned by Vulcan into magnets.

Maslin said that the metallisation step will be done in the Benson facility, but he declined to say if Vulcan or a third party would conduct that step.

Vulcan's goal is to produce 10 000 metric tons per year of magnets, with a "significant" amount of that production online by 2027. That is roughly the same volume planned by MP Materials for its Texas magnet facility.

• [Editor:Alakay]